Author: A Review of the Lucy Valentine Series
~ By Melina Kantor
For a long time, I was curious about Truly, Madly, the first book in Heather Webber’s Lucy Valentine series. On more than one trip to my local bookstore, I’d picked it up and flipped through it.
The cover was purple, it had a heart on it, and the font, for a lack of a better way to describe it, was very “chick lit” like.
Yeah, okay, so I was judging a book by its cover. But in a good way, I promise. I’m always on the lookout for chick lit and contemporary romance, which is why I kept picking it up.
What stopped me from actually reading it was my horrible habit of sticking to certain genres. Sadly, as wonderful as the back cover copy sounded, I couldn’t imagine reading a paranormal romance.
Fast forward a few months to the RWA National Conference in Orlando, where I kept hearing people rave about books I’d heard of but never read, including the Lucy Valentine series.
I had to wonder what I was missing out on. I also realized that the chick lit genre was changing, and that my definition of “chick lit” was going to have to expand.
By the end of August, I’d devoured Truly, Madly and Deeply Desperately. The books are written in first person, with a distinct “chick lit” voice. In fact, Lucy’s story of developing her career and finding romance created a very comfortable and familiar storyline.
I had to wait five very long months for Absolutely, Positively, but on February 1st, it magically appeared on my Kindle.
And let me tell you, the story did not disappoint!
About Lucy:
Lucy is a young, single woman living in a cottage behind her grandmother’s beautiful house. She’s got a three-legged cat and a one-eyed hamster, an eccentric yet close-knit family, and two best friends.
She also happens to come from a long line of matchmakers with a very special gift bestowed by Cupid himself– they can match people based on the color of their auras. Problem is, thanks to an electrical accident, Lucy no longer has that gift.
Instead, she has a special ability to find people’s lost items.
In books one and two of the series, Lucy uses her special gift to help solve crimes and reunite lost loves. By book three, she’s realized the power of her special gifts and her new branch of the family matchmaking business, “Lost Loves,” is well established. She also works with the police to find missing people.
The best part of her new career is that she gets to work with Sean, the handsome private investigator who works in the office upstairs.
As Lucy’s new career takes off, so does her relationship with Sean.
Absolutely, Positively:
In Book 3 of the series, Lucy works with Sean to help find a missing grandfather and reunite a woman with the man she loved when she was a high school student in foster care.
There’s also a mysterious masked man throwing thousands of dollars into the street, which ends up complicating Lucy’s career and her relationship with Sean.
To make matters worse, Lucy has a disturbing vision of her future with Sean, and she worries about his safety and his health.
As if that weren’t enough, a possible murder may be getting Lucy in over her head.
Heather Webber has done a fantastic job of letting Lucy’s story evolve over the course of the three books. Absolutely, Positively is the most intense story yet, but its cast of quirky and loveable characters (pets included) helps keep it enjoyable and upbeat.
The Lucy Valentine series has elements of chick lit, romance, mystery and paranormal, which are woven together seamlessly.
This series just goes to show that chick lit isn’t dead at all. It’s expanding and taking on new forms every day.
Meanwhile, I haven’t quite shaken my habit of judging books by their covers, but thanks to Lucy Valentine, I’m having a great time discovering books that are just outside my comfort zone.
Readers: Have you discovered any books that are “chick lit with a twist?” Please share in the comments!
Melina writes contemporary women’s fiction with a pinch of oregano and a dash of chutzpah. By day, she is an elementary school computer teacher. You can visit her at http://melinakantor.com.
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